New research explains why agricultural biofuel production emits more greenhouse gas

In 2008, Paul Crutzen and co-workers (http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/389/2008) concluded that agricultural production of biofuels for replacing fossil fuels could increase, rather than decrease, global warming. The conclusion, which was based on calculations of how much nitrous oxide (N2O) is emitted from agricultural land into the atmosphere, differed considerably from IPCC estimates. The new research article in Environmental Research Letters by Georgia Destouni and Amélie Darracq at the Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research supports Crutzen’s results. The new research also explains the reason for the difference from the IPCC results.

Destouni G., Darracq A., Nutrient cycling and N2O emissions in a changing climate: the subsurface water system role, Environmental Research Letters, 4, 035008 (7pp), doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/3/035008, 2009 (Länk: http://stacks.iop.org/1748-9326/4/035008)